NewscomaGot A Two-Pack Habit And A Motel Tan

The former General Manager’s funeral is today. There has been a sense of the surreal at the office since he died on Tuesday, sitting at his desk at his home. I don’t know how to explain it. He was 72 years old, and for some reason it shocked me that he was this old. The last time I saw him was about a year ago when he came in to just chat and told me he liked what I was doing at the paper. He also said, isn’t it funny that sometimes everybody wants to be your friend and then other times, you can’t get folks to return your call.

I laughed. He was right. Thus the way of a small town reporter’s life.

His name was Randal Benderman, but pretty much everyone who worked in local media and knew him just called him Benderman. He was pretty laid back and had a quick smile when I met him in 1991. I liked him. He was fun and definitely an old school small town newsman. He realized you could get a story just as easily having a cup of coffee with the folks at the donut shop as you could chasing an ambulance, if you know what I mean.

I ended up interviewing several of the past editors about working with him for a tribute for yesterday’s paper and everyone pretty much felt the same way I did. He was sort of a jack of all trades kind of guy. He’d sell ads then write for the paper, manage the staff and was the kind of guy quick with a joke who didn’t believe you had to yell at people to get things done, you just had to let folks figure it out for himself and guide them. Benderman was a true believer that no one ever needed a big stick to make an impression. He worked for the publishers from 1967 to 1994 so when you think about it, he was the guy behind the scenes for several years that, with some help from some of the women still there, brought Weakley County its news for nearly three decades.

Everyone I spoke to said how much they thought of him but there was one guy who worked for him who made the largest impression on me. He said, “I was stuffing newspapers one summer to make money for college and mentioned I would like to try to write a sports story. He let me. He gave me a shot, and so for a little while, I got to do something I dreamed of doing. That’s what I remember about Benderman. A chance. He was very encouraging that way.”

That man went on to be a policeman and now he’s the head of UT Martin’s Safety and Security, but when we spoke, he sounded wistful and pleased that he got to try something new and it meant a lot to him. He got to see his byline on a story.

So, today we listen to hymns and a eulogy and watch the devastated faces of his family suffering this loss, which is always so very sad. But for those of us who knew him professionally when ink stained the tips of his fingers during his time at the newspaper, we remember this older groovy guy that had this funky little laugh who encouraged those of us younger than him by allowing folks a chance to be in print.

I never worked for him, but I sat with him covering issues like consolidation of our school system and a bit of corruption from an alderman years ago who sat on the board. And as we watched these stories unfold, he would usually look at me and wink. One time, he told me he liked the way I always dug for more when it came to a story. That meant a lot to me.

And those are the kind of news guys that I like. The ones that paved the way for folks like me.